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1934

38.	Sex and the Premier
	In the late 1920s, United Farmers of Alberta Premier John Brownlee had visited Edson, Alberta’s mayor, Allan MacMillan, and his daughter, Vivian. Brownlee had suggested that Vivian move to Edmonton to study at a business college, and upon graduation work at a government job. In 1931, Vivian began working as a stenographer in the attorney general’s office. She often stayed overnight with Brownlee, his wife, Florence, and their teenage son, each person in a separate bedroom. Frequently during these visits, Vivian and the premier went for long drives together. In 1933, the Edmonton Bulletin broke the news that Brownlee, that “love-torn, sex-crazed victim of passion and jealousy,” was being sued under the Alberta Seduction Act by Vivian MacMillan, age 21, and her father. The MacMillans claimed humiliation, seeking $10,000 and $5,000 in damages respectively. Brownlee denied that he had seduced Vivian, and countersued, claiming that the story had been invented for monetary gain, urged on by Vivian’s fiancée, John Caldwell. The jury decided that:

	a)	Brownlee was an upstanding family man, innocent of seduction, and had just been trying to “help a young friend in a new city” find her way; the “long, circuitous country drives” were only to take her mind off missing her Edson home; the jury found him innocent and awarded Brownlee damages; the premier won the next election

	b)	Caldwell and MacMillan had been coaching Vivian, and had set up the premier, trying to extort money; the jury found Vivian and her father guilty, and awarded Brownlee damages; the premier won the next election

	c)	Brownlee’s appeal to Vivian to share his “strong passion” to spare his wife an unwanted pregnancy which she could not survive, and his giving Vivian “black pills” to prevent pregnancy, were indeed seduction; the jury found him guilty and awarded damages to the MacMillans; the premier resigned.




1964

60.	The Lawyers and the Mob

	When a couple was arrested in Texas trying to smuggle heroin out of Mexico, they fingered Lucien Rivard, a well known Montreal mobster, as their handler. Rivard worked for Paul Mondolini, one of the major capos of Canada’s organized crime. In the 1950s he had run a casino in Cuba for Mondolini and was reported to be tied to Santo Trafficante, who had been linked with the CIA plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. The Americans wanted to extradite Rivard and try him on drug trafficking charges. Consequently they hired a young Liberal lawyer in Montreal, Pierre Lamontagne, to request and handle Rivard’s extradition. Rivard was arrested in June by the RCMP and held in Bordeaux jail. No one in the mob in either country wanted him to testify about the drug ring, so they tried to arrange his bail in a very creative way. Through Raymond Denis, executive assistant to the Minister of Citizenship, they offered:

	a)	to break Lamontagne’s knees

	b)	$20,000 to Lamontagne and $60,000 to the Liberal Party

	c)	to hold Lamontagne’s sister hostage.

	Lamontagne refused to cooperate, but he started getting similar calls from Parliament Hill, including one from lawyer Guy Rouleau, Prime Minister Lester Pearson’s Parliamentary Secretary, and from an aide to Justice Minister Guy Favreau. After four weeks, Lamontagne reported the incidents to the RCMP, who reported to Favreau that they were unable to find enough evidence to charge anyone. When the news broke, Favreau spent a good deal of time in the hot seat for not revealing the facts to his boss, until Pearson finally remembered that Favreau had told him about the case but he had “forgotten” about it. Favreau was quietly shuffled out of Justice to the Privy Council, and Rouleau resigned as Pearson’s secretary. He was not re-elected. No one was ever charged. One warm spring night, Rivard escaped from jail when a guard allowed him to:

	d)	water the prison skating rink

	e)	paint the top of the prison fence

	f)	carry laundry out to the laundry truck.

	Rivard was:

	g)	later captured, convicted and served 20 years in prison

	h)	missing for six years and later found dead in the trunk of a car

	i)	never seen alive again.




1987

98.	Bribery and the Public Works Minister

	Conservative Minister of Public Works Roch LaSalle did not associate himself with unblemished characters. Four years before, his special assistant and a man whom he had known for 15 years, Frank Majeau, had been part-owner of:

	a)	a nude-dancer booking agency

	b)	a gambling collection agency

	c)	a escort service

	Majeau’s partners were a bit rough: Réal Simard had killed one drug courier and critically wounded another, while the other partner, Richard Clement, was supposedly Simard’s accomplice. Majeau himself had been found guilty of:

	d)	shoplifting

	e)	assault

	f)	theft

	LaSalle was in hot water with his boss, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, when it came to light that he had hired Majeau without the standard RCMP security check. LaSalle was forced to fire Majeau, and his other special assistant, Gilles Ferland from his Joliette riding office, whom he had known for 17 years, when it was discovered that Ferland had pleaded guilty 3 years before to charges of:

	g)	assault causing bodily harm

	h)	attempted fraud and mischief

	i)	perjury and contempt of court.

	When charges were brought against MP Michel Gravel for bribery regarding government contracts, and it was made public that LaSalle had been one of the guests of honour at Gravel’s “fundraising” parties. Mulroney:

	j)	asked for LaSalle’s resignation

	k)	appointed LaSalle as Secretary of State

	When LaSalle and 15 others were formally charged with demanding bribes and conspiring to defraud the federal government, Mulroney:

	l)	asked for LaSalle’s resignation

	m)	appointed LaSalle as Minister without Portfolio.